Consumer Rights: This State decides to underwrite household Power Bills by upto 50%

On Thursday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the government would underwrite up to 50% of the additional charge incurred by households during the stay-at-home phase of the lockdown period.

At his customary COVID-19 news briefing here, Mr. Vijayan said defaulters need not fear that their power connections would be severed. They could pay the February-May electricity bill by instalments spaced over an extended period of five months beginning in July.

He said power would continue to be free for consumers who drew less than 40 units of energy monthly irrespective of the increase in their electricity usage during the lockdown.

However, the connected load capacity of such beneficiaries should be less than 500 watts. Households that utilise up to 40 units of power a month and have a connected load capacity less than 1,000 watts would be billed ₹1.50 per unit irrespective of their extra usage if any.

The government would bear 50% of the cost of the extra bill incurred by households that consumed less than 50 units a month.

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